WhatsApp’s top executive, Will Cathcart, denied recent reports that claimed the messaging service was contemplating the integration of advertisements into the app. On Friday, Cathcart responded to an article published by the Financial Times, dismissing the allegations as “false.”
The Financial Times report, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter, stated that Meta Platforms, the parent company of WhatsApp, was in discussions to possibly introduce advertisements in the lists of conversations appearing on the WhatsApp chat screen. The report further mentioned that the company was contemplating introducing a subscription fee for an ad-free experience. The alleged moves were seen as strategies to enhance revenue generation.
Refuting the claims made in the report, Cathcart took to the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to clarify the company’s stance. “This @FT story is false. We aren’t doing this,” he posted.
In a formal statement to the Financial Times, WhatsApp maintained that the claims were unfounded, noting, “we can’t account for every conversation someone had in our company but we are not testing this, working on it, and it’s not our plan at all.”
The report by the Financial Times also highlighted that there was internal opposition to the advertisement strategy, with several company insiders being against the purported move.
WhatsApp, acquired by Facebook (now Meta) in 2014 for $19 billion, has been a free chat app since its inception. Since the acquisition, Meta has been exploring avenues to boost revenue from WhatsApp.
In a statement last year, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasized that WhatsApp along with Messenger would spearhead the company’s next growth phase, focusing significantly on business messaging, which is foreseen as “probably going to be the next major pillar” of Meta’s business endeavors.
Underlining WhatsApp’s business potential, its Business application reported serving over 200 million users as of June this year, marking a substantial increase from figures reported three years ago.